Dog coupler and method of manufacture

ABSTRACT

On leash, dogs enjoy being tethered together as partners, provided they can detect directional changes in their partner(s)&#39; movements. The dog coupler includes a pair of clip assemblies and a semi-rigid hollow tube, each distal end of which is pressure fitted with a clip fastenable to a dog&#39;s collar or harness. Fabricated of plastic tubing, about 18 inches long but stiff enough it remains tangle free when held by one end horizontally, the tube, in its resting state, forms a shallow arch. Partially folded by compression or, alternately, straightened out, the tube acts like a weak spring but exhibits substantially stronger spring tension when stretched. Because of this spring-like action, two dogs, individually connected to the coupler, get negative feedback when they move toward or apart from each other. Absent such feedback, they are rewarded for correctly positioning themselves, encouraging them to walk or run well tethered together.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/071,805, filed on Oct. 3, 2014, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A large percentage of dog owners have more than one dog. Additionally, professional dog walkers, trainers and handlers often walk multiple dogs simultaneously in order to optimize their use of time. Unfortunately, having an individual, full length regular walking leash for each dog greatly increases the likelihood that the leashes will become entangled, potentially causing the person walking the animals to lose control of them. A need exists for a device which can be used to safely tether multiple dogs together on a single leash.

Past efforts directed towards keeping multiple dogs on leash with a single hand-held device have entailed the use of a rope-like structure having a centrally disposed ring and means attachable to it for hooking the ring onto the individual leashes at points thereon distal from each tethered animal's collar. In assembled relation, the leashes so hooked then generally resemble branches emanating from a common center. Prominent among this device's shortcomings is the absence of a feedback mechanism between the dogs. Lacking such feedback, the animals run the risk of not only tripping against one another but also of tangling their various leashes.

Also known in the prior art is a device for tethering just two dogs together in which a pair of leashes are coupled in such a way that they form a “V”-shaped bungle. With the latter, whether it is of a fixed length or of a very stretchable type, one finds that the dogs' nature often drives them to pull to the full extent of the bungles. Pulling hard away from each other, the dogs can quickly spread themselves too far apart for the person walking them to maintain control, especially when the distance separating the animals is greater than the width of the walkway. Moreover, the applicant's experience has been that excessive sideways pulling away from one another on the part of a pair of tethered dogs leads to increased paw pad wear and tearing.

Thus, while the coupling of a pair of leashes to form a “V”-shaped bungle overcomes a major shortcoming of the rope-like structure and its means for hooking a ring onto individual leashes—in that such a coupling helps to maintain spacing between two tethered dogs, it, nevertheless, exacerbates the two dogs' natural tendencies to pull against'each other.

Realizing that One way to get dogs to walk or run well when tethered together is to reward them for correct positioning, the applicant then analyzed his own dogs' behaviour after first testing them to determine just how they would respond, depending upon their positions and spacing relative to each other, when two of them were run at the same time along the side(s) of a bicycle to which they were individually tethered by a dog leash. (The dog leashes employed in this testing are among those taught by Leon in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,013,840 and 8,544,720.) The applicant's findings were that the dogs enjoyed being close together—specifically, running side by side rather than along separate sides of the bicycle—provided they were kept just far enough apart to keep them from tripping on each other. Moreover, he found that by so running the dogs side by side and in close enough proximity that each partner dog was well aware of what the other dog was doing, the dogs could travel much faster and farther along side the bicyclist than when such awareness was lacking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a dog coupler which, when its distal ends are attached to the leash holder of a first partner dog's harness and to a second partner dog's harness or collar, respectively, can be used to tether at least two dogs to a single leash, with the coupler so attached being constructed in such a way that each partner dog can immediately detect changes in the direction of the movements of the other partner dog(s).

A further object of the invention is to provide such a dog coupler which a person holding onto the single leash can use to safely walk two or more dogs at the same time.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a dog coupler which, once a connector for the single leash has been mounted, distally from the leash's attachment to the leash holder, onto the frame of a bicycle, tricycle, or other mobility-enhancing personal carrier, a person can use in order to tether two or more dogs to the carrier as he safely rides on it and at the same time gives the dogs a chance/to exercise as they run or walk close by his side.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a dog coupler which, once the connector for the single leash has been so mounted onto the frame of a bicycle, a bicyclist can use to help the tethered dogs exert themselves to their full potential so that the bicyclist and the dogs, as they exercise by pedaling and running, respectively, can travel farther and faster than would otherwise be possible.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a coupler, simultaneously fastenable onto a first leash holder, such as a “D” ring, attached to a first dog's collar or harness and to a second leash holder attached to a second dog's collar or harness. The coupler comprises a pair of clip assemblies and an elongated tube, each distal end of which is permanently fitted with one of'the clip assemblies by pressure fitting the latter into it. Fabricated of a plastic tubing, the tube forms, during the pressure fitting process, a barb at each of its distal ends as a clip assembly's leash attachment ring, which is of larger diameter than the tube's inner diameter, is being inserted into it. Accomplished by lubricating the ring with a volatile lubricant prior to the ring's being pressed into the tube's end, this process results in a pair of spaced apart barbs, each of which strongly holds a leash attachment ring in place within the tube once the lubricant evaporates.

The stiffness of the plastic tubing from which the tube is fabricated must be such that, when the coupler's overall length measures, by way of example, about 19 inches, the tube remains tangle free when the coupler is held by one end in such a way that the tube itself extends generally horizontally. With this degree of stiffness, a positive signal is transmitted, through the coupler, between said first and second dogs whenever one of them moves relative to the other. Moreover, such couplers with the overall length of about 19 inches have been found to be ideal for use with most animals when deployed to join the collars/harnesses of two dogs since it allows plenty of room for them to run and at the same time time keeps them close enough to each other for companionship.

Slightly curved in its resting state, the tube forms a shallow arch that extends between the tube's distal ends, with the arch's span and the tube by itself, unstretched but straightened out lengthwise, measuring, by way of example, about 17 and 18 inches, respectively. Because of the arch's slight curvature, as well as the plastic tubing's resilient properties, the tube can act as a spring, giving negative feedback to the first and second dogs as they move toward each other or, alternately, try to space themselves further apart. In addition, this slight curvature facilitates the process of connecting the coupler to two animals of different sizes.

Besides the leash attachment ring, each clip assembly also includes a clip and a bearing which connects the clip to the ring in such a way that the clip is free to rotate about the tube's longitudinal centerline, thereby preventing the coupler from becoming entangled with either or both of the dog collars/harnesses to which the clips on the coupler's distal ends are attached during its use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the dog coupler according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the dog coupler according to FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, on a reduced scale, of the dog coupler according to FIG. 1, the dog coupler being shown with its distal ends attached to a “D” ring on a first partner dog's collar and to a second partner dog's collar, respectively, with the former “D” ring connecting the dog coupler to a single dog leash and with only a fragmentary portion of the leash which includes its clip being shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the drawings and indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 is a dog coupler according to the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the dog coupler 10 comprises an elongated tube 12, which, in its resting state, is slightly curved, and a pair of clip assemblies 11. Available commercially as a single unit, each clip assembly 11 includes a leash attachment ring 14 on which a spring-loaded clip 13 is pivotally mounted (FIG. 2). Preferably, the tube 12 is fabricated from urethane plastic tubing with a standardized hardness rating of 90 D and measures 1 inch in outside diameter, about ⅜ inch in inside diameter, and, when straightened out lengthwise, about 18 inches in length.

In assembled relation, each of the leash attachment rings 14 is individually held within a barb 15 formed proximate with a distal end of the tube 12 (FIGS. 1 and 2). Formed in the course of pressure fitting the ring 14, which has an outer diameter greater than that of the tube's inner diameter, into one of the tube's distal ends, the barb 15 holds the ring strongly. Indeed, a force of about 400 lbs. is required to separate the ring 14 from the barb 15 once a volatile lubricant applied to the ring just prior to the pressure fitting process has evaporated. Hence, the coupler 10, with its interfaces between the rings 14 and the barbs 15 so constituted, will not release a pair of dogs tethered to it under any loads they may exert on it by pulling. Nevertheless, in order to prevent the dogs from being harmed should they come into contact with a post or a like fixed object, the spring-loaded clip 13, when subjected to a force of about 150 lbs., will fail.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, two dogs of different sizes, tethered by a single dog leash 30, are shown running side by side. Joining the dogs so tethered is a dog coupler 10 which connects the “D” rings on their respective collars, with the “D” ring 21 on the collar 20 of one of the dogs also functioning as a leash holder onto which the dog leash's clip 31 is fastened. Distal from the clip 31, the dog leash's terminal end (not shown) may be hand-held or, alternately, connected to the frame of a bicycle, tricycle, or other personal carrier, as taught by Leon in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,013,840 and 8,544,720.

Whenever the tethered dogs move toward each other, the coupler 10 acts like a spring as the tube's mid-section is displaced upwardly and spacing between its distal ends is reduced. In the process, a positive signal is transmitted between the dogs that they need to correct their relative positions. Likewise, when the dogs initially start to move apart, the tube's shallow arch straightens, giving rise to a light spring-like tension which is communicated as a negative feedback to both animals. Should the dogs nevertheless continue to separate from each other, the tube 12 then begins to stretch; and a substantially stronger spring tension is triggered, unmistakeably signaling the animals that their misbehaviour will not be rewarded, thus encouraging them to space themselves so that they have room to walk or run yet keep themselves in close enough proximity to each other that they can enjoy each other's companionship. 

1. In an apparatus for simultaneously tethering, with a single leash, first and second dogs, each of which is wearing a dog collar or harness to which an individual leash holder is attached, a coupler which comprises an elongated tube and a pair of fastening devices, each of the tube's distal ends being permanently fitted with one of the devices, both of which are removably fastenable to the leash holders in such a way that when'the single leash and one of the devices are fastened to the first dog's leash holder, the other device can be fastened to the second dog's leash holder, thereby joining together the dogs' collars or harnesses and providing single leash control of the tethered animals.
 2. The coupler according to claim 1, wherein the elongated tube, which is further characterized as being fabricated from resilient plastic tubing which is sufficiently stiff that the tube remains tangle free when held by one end in such a way that it extends generally horizontally, forms, in its resting state, a shallow arch that extends between the tube's distal ends, the tube acting, during use, as a spring which gives feedback to the first and second dogs as they move toward each other or, alternately, try to space themselves further apart, so that in the absence of such feedback, they are rewarded for correctly positioning themselves, thereby encouraging them to walk or run well tethered together.
 3. The coupler according to claim 1, wherein each fastening device is a clip assembly which, includes a clip and a leash attachment ring, the ring, which has an outer diameter which is greater than the tube's inner diameter, being individually held within one of the tube's distal ends, the tube having a barb disposed proximate with each of its distal ends, each barb, which is disposed concentrically with the tube's longitudinal centerline, having been formed upon insertion of the ring, coated with a volatile lubricant, into the tube's distal end during a pressure fitting process and subsequent shrinking of portions of said distal end about the ring, each barb, upon evaporation of the lubricant, strongly holding one of the rings in place, thereby preventing the tethered dogs from pulling apart the tube and either of its rings.
 4. The coupler according to claim 3, wherein the clip is further characterized as being pivotally mounted on the leash attachment ring in such a way that the clip is free to rotate about the tube's longitudinal centerline, thereby preventing the coupler from becoming entangled with either or both of the dog collars or harnesses to which the clips protruding from the tube's distal ends are attached during use.
 5. A method of manufacture for a dog collar which includes the following steps: (a) lubricating the leash attachment ring of a clip assembly with a volatile lubricant, the clip assembly including a clip pivotally mounted on the ring; and (b) inserting and then pressure fitting the ring attachment ring into one end of a semi-rigid, hollow tube fabricated of a plastic tubing which has an inner diameter which is smaller than that of the ring, the tube's end forming a barb concentric with the tube's longitudinal centerline and the clip being kept free to rotate about it in the process. 